Women Are Being Dismissed By Doctors, And The Consequences Can Follow Them For Years

For millions of women, getting an appointment with a doctor can feel like finally reaching the point where they might get answers. But a new survey suggests another barrier can appear once they are sitting in the exam room: getting their symptoms taken seriously. One-third of women in the United States said they have struggled to get healthcare providers to take their symptoms seriously, while more than half of women surveyed reported at least one negative experience with a healthcare professional in the past five years.

The consequences can stretch far beyond an uncomfortable appointment. Women dealing with dismissed symptoms, unclear answers or delayed diagnoses can end up spending more time managing their health while also losing time and opportunities at work, at home and in their personal lives. Researchers and physicians say the pattern reflects longstanding problems within healthcare, including gender bias and the difficulty of diagnosing conditions that do not always present in expected ways.

More Than Half Of Women Report Negative Healthcare Experiences

The survey questioned 5,200 adults across the United States about four negative experiences they may have encountered with healthcare professionals during the previous five years. Participants were asked whether they had felt dismissed, received a misdiagnosis or no diagnosis, failed to receive clear answers or instructions, or received conflicting advice. The healthcare professionals involved could include doctors, nurses, physician assistants and other workers in medical settings.

Overall, 51% of women said they had experienced at least one of those problems, compared with 39% of men. The most common complaint among women was having their symptoms or pain minimized or dismissed, something reported by around one-third of female respondents. The findings point to a difference that goes beyond simply getting through the door for an appointment, because the quality of the interaction can determine whether a patient leaves with useful information or more unanswered questions.

Stephanie Marken, a senior partner at Gallup who worked on the survey, said many Americans already face inadequate access to quality healthcare. She noted that for women, getting an appointment can sometimes be “really half the battle.” Once they see a provider, Marken said women report negative experiences at a higher rate than men, including feeling dismissed, having their pain minimized or leaving without the information they need.

Women Are More Often Forced To Advocate For Their Health

The survey also found a substantial difference in how often women said they had to push for their own healthcare concerns to be recognized. Forty-two percent of women said they had needed to speak up or advocate for their health, compared with 26% of men. That means women were considerably more likely to describe themselves as having to actively fight for attention or understanding during the healthcare process.

Dr. Kimi Chernoby, an emergency physician in Virginia and chief legal officer of the FemInEM Foundation, said the finding reflects a long history of gender bias in medicine. “We have a history of gender bias and not believing women,” Chernoby said. She pointed to the tendency for women’s descriptions of pain and discomfort to be treated differently, particularly when symptoms are difficult to measure through an obvious test or do not match what a clinician expects to see.

Sahnah Lim, an associate professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine whose research focuses on women’s health equity, described the problem as longstanding. “This has been going on for centuries,” Lim said. For patients, the result can be especially frustrating because they are the people experiencing the symptoms in real time, yet they may still find themselves having to repeatedly explain why something does not feel right.

Delayed Answers Can Become A Much Bigger Problem

A missed or delayed diagnosis can create consequences that go well beyond frustration. Some conditions are difficult to diagnose, particularly pain syndromes and certain mental health conditions where there may not be a single test that immediately confirms what is happening. Chernoby said that in those situations, healthcare professionals eventually face a fundamental question about whether to believe the patient describing their symptoms.

“The default for all of us should be, ‘Yes,’” Chernoby said. She added that this does not always happen because of several factors, including the history of medicine and gender bias within the healthcare system. The problem becomes more serious when an initial concern is dismissed and the underlying condition continues without appropriate attention.

Severe bleeding after childbirth, known as postpartum hemorrhage, is one example of a serious condition where recognizing symptoms quickly can matter. It remains among the leading causes of maternal mortality in the United States, and the supplied research notes that providers may fail to respond adequately to women’s initial reports of symptoms. Heart attacks can create another diagnostic challenge because women may not always experience the classic chest pain often associated with heart attacks in men.

The Health Consequences Can Follow Women To Work

Health problems rarely stay contained within a doctor’s office. When symptoms continue without clear answers or effective treatment, they can begin affecting a person’s ability to work, maintain relationships and participate in ordinary activities. The survey found that women were more likely than men to say their health had negatively affected their family lives, social lives or careers.

Forty-two percent of female respondents said their health had limited their work in some way during the previous five years. That can include working fewer hours, being unable to pursue a promotion or missing other opportunities. The figure was even higher among Black women, at 49%, and Hispanic women, at 45%, showing that the impact was not distributed evenly across the women surveyed.

Renee Wittemyer, a vice president at Pivotal, said the finding was particularly striking because of what it would look like in an ordinary workplace. “Just picture your own workplace and what it would mean if four in ten of the women there felt they had to work fewer hours or couldn’t pursue a promotion or new opportunity because of their health,” Wittemyer said. She described the survey as showing how barriers to healthcare can become barriers to opportunity.

The Ripple Effects Can Reach Family And Social Life

The survey found that women dealing with unresolved health problems can experience consequences in several parts of their lives at once. Both men and women who said a healthcare provider had minimized or dismissed their symptoms were more likely to report that their health had prevented them from doing everything they wanted to do. Women, however, were more likely than men to say their health had affected their family, social lives or careers.

That can create a difficult cycle. A woman who is dealing with persistent pain or unexplained symptoms may need additional appointments, tests and follow-ups while also trying to maintain normal responsibilities. If those appointments still do not produce answers, the amount of time and energy consumed by the problem can continue to grow.

Marken said the difference in healthcare experiences has consequences across women’s lives. “Women are experiencing a very different healthcare system than men,” she said. “That’s having a significant impact on every aspect of their lives.” The survey therefore raises an issue that cannot be measured only by the number of appointments someone receives, because access to care means little if a patient repeatedly leaves without having their concerns properly addressed.

Experts Say Patients Can Prepare Before Appointments

Experts quoted in the research encouraged women who feel dismissed to keep advocating for themselves, even though they also stressed that patients should not have to carry the entire burden. One practical recommendation is to prepare a priority list before an appointment, particularly when several symptoms or questions need to be discussed. Writing concerns down can help ensure the most important issues are addressed during a limited appointment.

Dr. Wendy Harpham, whose work focuses on communication between patients and clinicians, recommended keeping a list on paper or on a phone and putting the highest-priority concerns first. She also advised patients to think through how they have been feeling so they can describe the situation clearly and efficiently. That preparation can give a doctor more useful information while helping patients avoid leaving the appointment and realizing they forgot to mention something important.

There are several simple ways patients can make those conversations more organized:

• Write down symptoms: Record what has been happening and when the symptoms occur.
• Prioritize concerns: Put the most important questions at the top of the list.
• Explain changes clearly: Think about how symptoms have changed before the appointment.
• Ask what happens next: Make sure instructions and follow-up plans are understood.
• Consider another opinion: If serious concerns remain unresolved, seeking another medical opinion can be an option.

Harpham described healthcare as a shared process between the patient and provider. “It has to be a team effort for the doctor to get the information they need and for the patient to be heard,” she said.

Women Should Not Have To Fight To Be Believed

Chernoby similarly encouraged women to trust their own observations when something feels wrong and to consider another opinion when they remain concerned. “If something doesn’t sit right, get a second opinion,” she said. “People know their bodies. They know when something is wrong.” That advice can give patients another route when an initial appointment does not resolve their concerns.

But the researchers also stressed that telling women to advocate more strongly cannot be the entire answer. Patients can prepare questions, describe symptoms carefully and seek additional opinions, but those actions do not remove the underlying problems that can cause someone to feel dismissed in the first place.

Lim put that responsibility into blunt terms: “It’s really not their issue. It’s a system issue.” She added that there is only so much advocacy one person can do for themselves. For women who have spent months or years trying to get an unexplained health problem taken seriously, that distinction may be the most important one in the entire survey.